Documents for a settlement application

Identity Documents

Immigration status is held online. Biometric residence permits stopped being issued at the end of 2024, and status is now shown from a UK Visas and Immigration account with a share code that lasts 90 days. Our guide to the online record of status explains how the account works.

Identity documents in the application are cross-referenced against Home Office records. The published routes to settlement and their application forms are on the GOV.UK indefinite leave to remain page.

• Current valid passport: The passport you used to enter the UK or that is linked to your current visa. If you have renewed your passport during your time in the UK, include both the current and previous passports.
• Access to the UK Visas and Immigration account: The account holds the record of current permission. Signing in needs the passport, national identity card or biometric residence card the account was set up with, plus the phone number or email address used for sign-in. An expired biometric residence permit can still be used to sign in.
• Previous passports: All passports you have held during your residence in the UK. These contain entry stamps, visa vignettes, and other evidence of your immigration history. If a previous passport has been destroyed or lost, provide a letter from your embassy confirming this.
• National identity card: If applicable to your nationality, this can serve as additional identity evidence. It is not a substitute for a passport.

Immigration History Evidence

See our guide to indefinite leave to remain for the requirements of each route.

The Home Office needs to see that you have had continuous lawful residence in the UK for the qualifying period. This means holding valid immigration permission at all times, with no gaps.

• Previous visa grant letters: Decision letters from all previous UK visa applications. These show the dates your visa was granted and the conditions attached.
• Expired biometric residence permits: Permits issued before the end of 2024 carry the dates of each grant of permission, which is why they are worth keeping even though they are no longer issued or valid as proof of status.
• Acknowledgement of an earlier in-time application: Where an extension was applied for before the previous permission expired, the acknowledgement of that application records the date it was made. That date is what section 3C of the Immigration Act 1971 uses to continue permission while a decision is awaited.
• Entry clearance vignette: The visa sticker in your passport that was issued when you first entered the UK on your current route.

Continuous Residence Evidence

The fee is £3,226 for each person applying, so a family of four pays £12,904. There is no fee for the biometric information itself, and settlement is free for people applying with refugee status or humanitarian protection, who also pay no immigration health surcharge. Our guide to visa fees sets out the published fee table.

Appendix Continuous Residence sets the absence limit: not more than 180 days outside the UK in any 12-month period during the qualifying period. Evidence should cover the whole of that period:

• Passport stamps: Entry and exit stamps in your passport showing your travel dates. If you use eGates, stamps may not be present.
• Travel history from the Home Office: Where a passport carries no stamps, a person can ask the Home Office for the personal information it holds, including travel records. The Home Office has one calendar month to respond.
• Council tax records: Council tax bills or account statements for each year of the qualifying period. These prove where you were living in the UK.
• Bank statements: UK bank statements showing regular transactions. Periods of foreign transactions can indicate time abroad, so these should align with your declared absences.
• Employer letters: Letters from employers confirming your continuous employment in the UK and any periods of leave or overseas travel.
• Utility bills: Bills in your name at UK addresses covering the qualifying period.

Skilled Worker Route: Additional Documents

On the Skilled Worker route, GOV.UK sets the settlement requirement as continuing to be needed for the job and continuing to meet the salary requirements after settlement, confirmed by a document from the sponsor. The salary figure is usually the higher of £41,700 a year or the standard going rate for the occupation code. Different figures apply to some groups: the higher of £25,000 or the national pay scale going rate for eligible healthcare and education jobs; the higher of £31,300, or £25,000 for an Immigration Salary List job, or the lower going rate for those on a Health and Care Worker visa in the occupation codes with different salary requirements, and for those whose first certificate of sponsorship was issued before 4 April 2024 who have held Skilled Worker visas since; at least £33,400 or the standard going rate for an Immigration Salary List job; and £35,800 or more for an International Sportsperson, T2 Sportsperson or Tier 2 (Sportsperson) visa.

• Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) reference number: Your current CoS number, which your employer can provide. The Home Office uses this to verify your sponsorship details.
• Employer letter confirming salary: A letter from your current employer on company letterhead confirming your job title, annual salary, start date, and that you are still employed. The salary must meet the minimum threshold for your occupation code.
• Payslips: Payslips showing gross pay against the threshold that applies to the job.
• P60 certificates: Your end-of-year P60 for each complete tax year during the qualifying period. These confirm your annual earnings to HMRC.
• Contract of employment: Your current employment contract showing your salary, job title, and terms of employment.

Spouse Route: Additional Documents

Settlement on the partner route is reached after 5 years on the 5-year route, and this is one of the routes where English is tested again at the settlement stage, at level B1 in speaking and listening. The published minimum income requirement is £29,000 a year for new applications; £18,600, with £3,800 for a first child and £2,400 for each further child up to a £29,000 cap, applies only to people extending who first applied before 11 April 2024.

• Marriage or civil partnership certificate: A scan or photograph of the certificate. If it is not in English or Welsh, a certified translation is required as well.
• Financial evidence: Evidence meeting the minimum income requirement. This may include payslips, bank statements, employer letters, and tax documents. See our financial documents guide for detailed requirements.
• Evidence of cohabitation: Proof that you and your partner have been living together throughout the qualifying period. Joint tenancy agreements, joint bank accounts, joint utility bills, and correspondence addressed to both of you at the same address.
• Relationship evidence: Appendix FM requires the relationship to be genuine and subsisting at the settlement stage as well as at the first application. See our relationship evidence guide.

English Language Evidence

GOV.UK states that a person settling on a Skilled Worker, Health and Care Worker, T2 or Tier 2 visa does not need to prove the English language requirement again, because it was proved when the visa was applied for. Where a route does test it at the settlement stage, the level is B1 of the Common European Framework in speaking and listening. From 26 March 2027 that level rises to B2 for settlement on Skilled Worker, Scale-up, Global Talent and Long Residence among others. Refugees and people with humanitarian protection are exempt. The Home Office publishes the full list of approved SELT providers on GOV.UK. For our guide to accepted tests and exemptions, see our English language tests guide.

• SELT test certificate: A valid Secure English Language Test result from an approved provider such as IELTS for UKVI or Trinity College London.
• Degree taught in English: Your degree certificate plus a UK ENIC statement confirming equivalence (if the degree was awarded outside the UK).
• Nationality of a majority English-speaking country: The list is fixed and published by the Home Office. A country having English as an official language does not put it on the list.

Life in the UK Test

You must pass the Life in the UK test before applying to settle. It is booked through the official GOV.UK booking page. The pass notification, with its unique reference number, goes into the application. The test costs £50, has 24 questions in 45 minutes, a pass mark of 75%, and must be booked at least 3 days in advance at one of more than 30 test centres.

A pass does not expire, so a test taken for an earlier application counts again. GOV.UK states that the test applies at ages 18 to 64, so people under 18 and people aged 65 and over are outside it. Refugees and people with humanitarian protection are also exempt at settlement.

Recording Your Absences

The application form asks for every trip outside the UK during the qualifying period, with dates and destinations. Declared absences are cross-checked against passport stamps and travel records.

Where the dates of past trips can be found:

• Go through your passport page by page and note all entry and exit stamps
• Check flight booking confirmations and boarding passes
• Review bank statements for foreign transactions that indicate travel dates
• Check work calendars, annual leave records, and email history for travel clues
• Where a passport has no stamps, ask the Home Office for the personal information it holds, which includes travel records

The published limit in Appendix Continuous Residence is not more than 180 days outside the UK in any 12-month period during the qualifying period. A separate rule applies while the settlement application itself is undecided: GOV.UK says the application is withdrawn if the applicant travels outside the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man before a decision.

Complete Document Checklist

What the published requirements ask for, in one list:

1. Current valid passport
2. Access to the UK Visas and Immigration account
3. All previous passports held during UK residence
4. Previous decision letters and any expired biometric residence permits, for the dates they carry
5. English language evidence, where the route tests it at settlement (secure English language test certificate, degree taught in English, or an exemption)
6. Life in the UK test pass notification
7. Continuous residence evidence for the full qualifying period
8. Absence record (dates and destinations for every trip outside the UK)
9. Route-specific documents (employment, financial, or relationship evidence)
10. Covering letter listing the documents provided

Documents are uploaded into the online service or scanned at the UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services appointment, so nothing is posted and nothing is returned. Scans should be legible. A decision usually follows within 6 months of the fingerprints and photograph; the priority service costs £500 for a decision within 5 working days and the super priority service £1,000 for the next working day, or 2 working days if the appointment falls at a weekend.

Questions and answers